Investigating Cuban-U.S. Relations from 1961 to 2016:

Abstract

This paper spots the light on more than five decades of the Cuban-American history; particularly, the recent mutual convergence of relations. Under the title: “Investigating Cuban-U.S. Relations From 1961-2016: Moving from Enmity to Normalization”; the study tackles the most pressing and complex issue in the Americas. Therefore, one of the present study‟s primary concerns is to discuss American domestic and foreign factors in shaping its policy toward Cuba, as an exceptional country case. Generally, it contributes to the re-examination of the effectiveness of the U.S. embargo against Cuba. Besides, the study suggests historical methodological insights on the basis of political, economic and legal journey. Books, Congressional publications, journal articles and reports are analyzed to provide the necessary information and to understand the shift in the U.S. policy toward Cuba; as, successive U.S. administrations continued to intensify the block, while Obama‟s administration negotiates for removing it. Results suggest that, how political, economic, and social conditions at play had a hand in prolonging the U.S. embargo; in spite of its failure to bring Castro down and to democratize Cuba; to put it in one word, the U.S.-Cuba ongoing Normalization is still ink on paper without the repeal of Helms-Burton Act, besides, a number of Acts, which require a congressional authorization.